film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
Much of what might have made it appealing to true devotees of science fiction and cinema, like how it’s a pastiche of 1950s B-movies, is lost when its parodying of the paranoia and xenophobia of those films is so relentlessly trite and obvious…
The Half-Blood Prince opens huge, but not quite as huge as it could have: 1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: $77.8 million (NEW) 2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: $17.6 million (3rd week; drops 36%) 3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: $13.7 million (4th week; drops 44%) 4. Bruno: $8.32 million (2nd week; … more…
The nicest monster movie ever…
While much of the rest of the NYC critical community will be attending a screening of Race to Witch Mountain tonight (here’s why I won’t), I’ll be seeing Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America (opens in New York City on March 13; no U.K. release date has been announced), an ultralow-budget epic about two … more…
Take a break from work: watch a movie trailer… A little late today, but hey, it’s still time to take a break from work on the West Coast… Ooo, a pastiche of 1950s science fiction! Excellent! And tricky, too. It has to have just the right tone to work. If it’s not bad enough — … more…
